1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave ovens, and more particularly, to a microwave oven having a temperature-measuring device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, temperature sensors of microwave ovens are used to measure the temperature of food being cooked in the microwave ovens. Such temperature sensors are typically installed in cooking cavities of the microwave ovens to measure internal temperatures of the cooking cavities, so as to indirectly measure the temperature of the food.
FIG. 1 shows a front view of a conventional microwave oven having the temperature sensor described above.
As shown in FIG. 1, a temperature sensor 118 is fixedly mounted to a predetermined portion of a cooking cavity 106 formed in a body 102 of the microwave oven, and senses an internal temperature of the cooking cavity 106. The sensed internal temperature is displayed through a display unit 112 of a control panel 114 of the microwave oven. As a result, a user can recognize a current internal temperature of the cooking cavity 106 from a value displayed on the display unit 112.
However, the temperature sensor shown in FIG. 1 has difficulty in accurately measuring the temperature of food, because it is located far away from the food. To solve this problem, a wire-shaped temperature sensor 202 is used as shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows a front view of a conventional microwave oven having the wire-shaped temperature sensor 202.
The wire-shaped temperature sensor 202 has a jack formed at its one end and a temperature-sensing probe formed at its other end. The temperature sensor 202 measures the temperature of food directly by connecting the jack to a terminal (not shown) formed in the cooking cavity 106 and bringing the temperature-sensing probe into contact with the food. Thus, the temperature sensor 202 shown in FIG. 2 can more accurately measure the temperature of food than the temperature sensor 102 shown in FIG. 1.
However, the temperature sensors 118 and 202 in the conventional microwave ovens are limited in their use in that they merely measure the temperature of food in the respective cooking cavities 106. In this regard, a separate temperature measuring unit must be used to measure the temperatures of food materials or hot water external to the microwave ovens, resulting in inconvenience and inefficient use of the temperature sensors 118 and 202 in the conventional microwave ovens.